Renewable power on Farms

[Innes Munro - Presenter] New research has shown that there is a rise in farmers who are using renewable energy as part of their daily life on the farm. According to a study which was done by the group Energy Now, the number of farmers that think that renewable energy will not be crucial to the business in the years to come is lower than five per cent. Calum MacLean reports.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] Things have changed a lot since farmers started working the ground and this research shows that more are looking at new ways to keep their livelihood going.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] With the prices of fuel increasing all the time, many farmers see renewable power, like this windmill behind me, as a way to save money and earn for themselves.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] With the government aiming to have every energy need served by renewable power by the year 2020, the number of windmills is rising in scale. More farmers are taking notice of this and are using their land to put up little schemes. But what is the effect on daily life on the farm.

[Robert MacDonald] That is the best thing about it, though you can keep on really doing what you were doing before, but you have windmills, maybe a hydro scheme, it doesn’t really get in the way of the farm-work at all. When the windmill is going round, it will go round when you are in your bed and it makes you money.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] Last year, a cow farmer from Dingwall put a windmill on his own land and he has other ways to save power.

[Kenneth MacKenzie] We are big users of electricity and we thought it made a lot of sense, when we had a hill behind us, it was always windy up there and we thought it was a good chance for us to be, an opportunity for us to do that. We are hoping that we'll produce, say, fifty per cent of our electricity. We’re putting up solar panels, as you see here and other renewables. Well, we’ve always done since day one, we’ve been here almost ten years and we collect all the rain water of this huge roof we have here.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] There are still difficulties regarding hundreds of farm structures with many people against wind farms and there are not suitable for each area.

[Robert MacDonald] Up where I am, in Grantown, we’re in the National Park, and you can’t put up windmills at all. And that makes it more difficult for people. It’s difficult to get a plan.

[Calum MacLean – Reporter] But with uncertainty about how durable windfarms will be in the future, there is a chance that we will see farms with more than just sheep. Calum MacLean, BBC An Là.

Cumhachd ath-nuadhachail air tuathanais

(Renewable power on Farms)

VocabularyBriathrachas

rannsachadh - research

cumhachd ath-nuadhachail - renewable power

tuathanas - farm

sgrùdadh - examination

prìsean connaidh - fuel prices

CuideachadhHow to use this site

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